IAS Preparation: Questions for Prelims 5 March 2018

Shravan Nune

Mar 5, 2018 14:10 IST

IAS Preparation: Questions for Prelims 5 March 2018

To clear the IAS Exam, continuous efforts to master the current affairs component are a must. To answer current affairs based questions in prelims, one should not only have the preliminary information about the current events, but also the clarity about the issues and concepts involved.

To cater to this need of IAS Exam aspirants, Jagran Josh is providing five important Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) on a daily basis. The questions cover important current affairs events in the fields of economy, national, India-World relations, science and technology, environment, etc. Answers along with detailed explanations to the questions will help the aspirants in answering further questions on the given topic in all the phases of the exam – Preliminary, Mains written and Personality Test.

1. Consider the following statements related to the National Financial Reporting Authority that was recently approved by the Union Cabinet.1) It is an independent regulator for auditing profession.2) It will replace the existing Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

On March 1, 2018, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for the establishment of the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA). The NFRA will be established as an independent regulator for the auditing profession.

The jurisdiction of NFRA for investigation of Chartered Accountants and their firms under section 132 of the Act would extend to listed companies and large unlisted public companies. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) would, however, continue to play its regulatory role in respect of its members in general and specifically with respect to audits pertaining to private limited companies and public unlisted companies below the threshold limit to be notified in the rules.

The decision is expected to enhance economic growth, improve foreign/domestic investments, support the globalisation of business by meeting international practices and assist in further development of the audit profession.

2. Consider the following statements related to the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 that was recently approved by the Union Cabinet.1) It lays down measures to deter fugitive economic offenders from remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.2) It helps financial institutions in achieving higher recovery from financial defaults.3) It provides for the creation of a ‘Special Court’ under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?a) 1 and 2 onlyb) 2 and 3 onlyc) 1 and 3 onlyd) All of them

Answer. d

Explanation:

On March 1, 2018, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018. The bill seeks to lay down measures to deter fugitive economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts.

The bill was drafted by the Union Government in view of the recent Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi episodes, who flew away from India after committing economic offences.

Key features of the bill

• The bill provides for the creation of a ‘Special Court’ under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 to declare a person as a Fugitive Economic Offender.

• The process of repatriation of an economic fugitive under the act begins with the submission of an application before the special court declaring that an individual is a fugitive economic offender.

• The application should comprise an attachment of the property of the fugitive.

• After going through the application, the special court would issue a notice to the individual alleged to be a fugitive economic offender.

• This would be followed by confiscation of the property of the individual resulting from the proceeds of crime.

• The offender’s other properties located in India and abroad, including benami property would also be confiscated.

• Further, the offender would be disentitled from defending any civil claim.

• Finally, an administrator will be appointed to manage and dispose of the confiscated property under the Act.

• Further, only those cases would come under the jurisdiction of the bill that involve a total value of Rs 100 crore or more.

Who is a Fugitive Economic Offender?

A fugitive economic offender is any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to a schedule offence has been issued by any court of India who, either leaves or has left India to avoid criminal prosecution or refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.

A scheduled offence refers to a list of economic offences contained in the schedule of the bill, including cheating, forgery, fraud, corruption, insider trading and customs evasion.

3. Consider the following statements related to ‘NAG Missile System’ that was successfully test-fired recently.

1) It is a third generation fire-and-forget and can be fired anti-tank missile.2) It has both land and helicopter versions.3) NAG Missile can carry a warhead weighing up to 8kg.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?a) 1 and 2 onlyb) 2 and 3 onlyc) 1 and 3 onlyd) All of them

Answer. d

Explanation:

In February 2018, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired Nag anti-tank missile. It was the third flight test of the missile. With this flight test, the developmental trials of the missile have been completed and it is now capable to engage targets in different conditions. It is now ready to be inducted into the Indian armed forces.

Features of Nag missile

• It is a third generation fire-and-forget anti-tank missile. It can be fired during the night and day as well.

• It is equipped with top attack capability to nullify the explosive reactive armour (ERA) of a battle tank.

• It weighs 42kg and has a length of 1.90m. It can be fired against both moving and fixed targets.

• To carry the land version, DRDO developed the NAMICA (Nag Missile Carrier) for the army.

• While the land version can hit targets in the range between 500m to 4km, the range of air-launched version is between 7 and 10 km. It can carry a warhead weighing up to 8kg.

• It has been developed at a cost of 300 crore rupees by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

• Once inducted into the Armed Forces, the HeliNa missile will be integrated with the weaponised version of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, the light combat helicopter produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

IAS topper 2016 Nitish kumar Singh Rank 23rd Prelims strategy

4. Which of the following has become the first country in the world to launch own crypto-currency as its legal tender?a) Marshall Islandsb) Icelandc) Mauritiusd) Canada

Answer. a

Explanation:

In March 2018, the Marshall Islands has become the first country in the world to launch own crypto-currency as its legal tender. To this effect, the parliament of the country (Nitijela) has passed a law. The digital currency will be used to raise some hard cash to pay bills and boost the economy.

To issue the crypto-currency, the Marshall Islands nation has teamed up with a company Neema from Israel. The Neema will issue 24 million units of the Sovereign digital currency SOV. However, the numbers are capped to prevent inflation.

What is Cryptocurrency?

It is a digital or virtual currency created and stored electronically in block chains (a master ledger records and stores all the information regarding the currency along with its owner) while it has no physical existence and cannot be redeemed in another commodity like gold. Encryption techniques have been used to control its creation as a monetary unit and to verify the transfer of funds involved.

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, Ethereum, PPcoin, Dogecoin, Coinye, Namecoin etc. are some of the examples of cryptocurrencies. In the FY 2018-19 budget speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the crypto currency wouldn’t be accepted as legal tender in India.

5. It is with these countries, India signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) for civil nuclear cooperation.a) China and Sri Lankab) Russia and Bhutanc) Japan and South Koread) Russia and Bangladesh

Answer. d

Explanation:

India, Russian and Bangalesh signed a tripartite MoU on civil nuclear cooperation. It was signed on March 1, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. As part of the MoU, the Nuclear Power Cooperation of India Limited (NPCIL) will assist Russia in the construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

The MoU will allow Indian companies in construction, installation works and in the supply of equipment of a non-critical category.

The MoU was signed in Moscow by the Department of Atomic Energy of India, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh and Rosatom of Russia.

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